Crackdown on Occupy Canada encampments

Carl Bronski
WSWS
November 21, 2011

Toronto

About 2,000 supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement in Toronto marched from the protesters’ encampment in St. James Park to City Hall on Saturday. The demonstration was in response to efforts currently underway by the administration of right-wing mayor Rob Ford to evict several hundred people occupying the park. Ford has already garnered significant opposition from working people in Toronto for his agenda of privatizations, wholesale layoffs and massive cuts to social services.

Protesters in the crowd were quick to link these attacks with the move to curtail the democratic rights of the occupiers. Despite a “no politics” mantra promulgated by elements within the Occupy movement, the possibility of occupying threatened libraries, public housing units and workplaces was being raised on the march by a section of community activists and workers.

The “Evict Rob Ford” march comes on the heels of a concerted effort by municipal officials to shut down Occupy encampments across Canada. In the previous 10 days, police have moved in to evict protesters in Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, London, Ontario, and in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where 14 arrests were made. Police were poised Sunday night to remove scores of demonstrators in Edmonton, Alberta. In Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia, orders enabling evictions in the coming week have been issued by the provincial court.

FULL ARTICLE HERE…
(hat tip: Mostly Water)